The Bot Brief

- Victor Hugo

 

 

Bots in the News:

As expected, the Fed announced a departure from its long period of tightening and will initiate a period of pushing interest rates lower. Last week the Fed enacted a significant 50 basis point cut and indicated that subsequent cuts of that nature will be employed to focus on full employment as opposed its prior objective of inflation fighting.

While the markets reacted appreciably in the aftermath of the policy change, neither the Bot Index nor the S & P 500 rose dramatically during the week. Each index gained a bit over one and one quarter percent from the prior week. Within the Bot Index there was only one company that showed measurable improvement. Oceaneering International rose 12.16% during the period, without any substantial news to account for the double-digit increase. The company’s stock has generally been tied to oil prices, which rose for the week; however, the company has also recently secured its backlog through a number of North Sea contracts.

Shares of AeroVironment were down 4.87% in week over week trading, however, with an interesting twist. On Friday week, shares of the drone manufacturer jumped 3.56% to close at $193.11. The following Monday however, investors took advantage of the increase and liquidated the stock on four times normal volume, pushing the stock price down to $173.50. Also on Monday, the company indicated it was having a contract dispute with the U.S. Defense Department, forcing a work stoppage. Following Monday’s 9.68% profit taking the stock has steadily improved to close at $182.76 this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Member: American Economic Association, Society of Professional Journalists, United States Press Association. Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, Robotic Industries Association (now A3 Automation), Member IEEE. 

 

 

The Bot Brief is a weekly newsletter designed for economists, investment specialists, journalists, and academicians. It receives no remuneration from any companies that may from time to time be featured in the brief and its commentaries, analysis, opinions, and research represent the subjective view of Balcones Investment Research, LLC. Due to the complex and rapidly changing nature of the subject matter, the company makes no assurances as to the absolute accuracy of the material presented.